Matured Students

What has Age got to do with Education?

Fruits ripe at the right time. So is true with children’s education. The student population in Debre Zeit in the 1950s and 1960s greatly varied, especially with respect to school starting age. For instance, relatively a high proportion of the students both at the elementary and secondary level were matured students. Matured students are those who are above the age appropriate for the classes they were attending.

The age composition reflects a highly skewed proportion of matured students due to the fact that Debre Zeit, which is an urbanized town is surrounded by rural farming areas. Rural farming areas either do not send their children to school or if they do, often the children start school at an older age. They either serve as shepherds looking after their family farm animals or work in the field as a farm hand.

The picture taken from an internet shows a young boy looking after his family’s farm animals.

Although there is some improvement, school attendance at a latter age has continued to a large extent well after the 1950s and 1960s. Here is the picture of school attendance based on 2007 census.

Table x: Comparison of % of all persons currently attending School in East Shewa and Adama Special Zone. (East Shewa Zone is where Debre Zeit is part of and Adama special Zone is used as proxy for Debre Zeit as there are not data by age breakdown for Debre Zeit due to small size.)

% all person currently Attending

% all person currently Attending

% all person currently Attending

% all person currently Attending

EAST SHEWA ZONE

EAST SHEWA ZONE -Urban

EAST SHEWA ZONE -Rural

ADAMA SPECIAL ZONE-URBAN

Age

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

Total

Male

Female

5

13.9%

14.1%

13.7%

40.1%

41.1%

39.1%

8.4%

8.6%

8.2%

51.8%

51.3%

52.2%

6

17.6%

16.9%

18.4%

51.9%

50.3%

53.5%

11.0%

10.6%

11.3%

59.7%

59.5%

59.9%

7

24.9%

23.8%

26.0%

58.2%

57.8%

58.7%

17.3%

16.6%

18.0%

63.1%

62.5%

63.7%

8

32.2%

31.0%

33.4%

66.7%

66.0%

67.4%

25.3%

24.5%

26.2%

70.5%

72.6%

68.8%

9

39.8%

38.9%

40.7%

70.4%

72.0%

68.9%

32.0%

30.5%

33.5%

70.7%

72.3%

69.2%

10

43.0%

41.0%

45.0%

70.3%

71.5%

69.2%

37.0%

35.1%

39.0%

69.3%

70.1%

68.7%

11

51.7%

50.4%

53.1%

73.6%

74.1%

73.2%

45.5%

43.9%

47.1%

71.8%

70.9%

72.4%

12

48.6%

46.8%

50.6%

71.5%

72.8%

70.4%

43.2%

41.3%

45.3%

67.6%

67.9%

67.3%

13

51.7%

51.5%

52.0%

71.5%

70.9%

71.9%

45.7%

45.9%

45.4%

72.0%

75.0%

69.7%

14

52.2%

50.1%

54.3%

71.6%

71.0%

72.1%

46.5%

44.9%

48.3%

68.6%

70.7%

66.8%

15

47.6%

45.6%

49.7%

65.7%

61.9%

68.4%

41.0%

41.0%

41.1%

64.7%

67.1%

63.1%

16

49.1%

49.3%

48.9%

69.2%

71.9%

67.0%

40.5%

41.1%

39.7%

63.2%

63.7%

62.9%

The table shows that persons in the rural farming community start to attend school at a latter age than their urban counterparts. For example, only 8.2 percent started attending school at age 5 in rural East Shewa Zone, about 31.7 percent fewer persons than in the urban areas which was 40.1 percent. It was highly likely that a 14-year-old student could be placed in a class with a five-year-old student since both could be starting for the first time.

The gap in starting age for school attendance only starts to narrow after age 9 between the urban and rural students in East Shewa Zone. The gap is even wider when one compares the Adama Special Zone which is highly urbanized (51.8 percent) with Urban East Shewa Zone (40.1). Looking back from 2007, the age gap in class as a result of delayed starting was even more pronounced in Debre Zeit in the 1950s and 1960s.

The main reason as to why the rural farming community students do not start early is primarily due to family responsibility of helping their parents on the farm.

There are very few who escape this fate and attend school at an earlier age from the rural communities, mainly due to the encouragement and support of relatives who live in the city of Debre Zeit.

First when we look at the overall East Shewa Zone school attendance at age 5, only about 14 percent (13.9) were attending school while a whapping 84 percent did not attend school. The proportion of persons attending school gradually increases by age and reaches 50% by age 11, eventually peaking at 52.2 percent by age 14.

The attendance pattern of males and females varies significantly. By age 5, the proportion of male attendance (14.1 percent) was slightly higher than female attendance (13.7). However, the age 5 pattern is short lived as the female school attendance exceeded that of the male from age 6 up to age 16. This could have been due to the nature of external farm work, like shepherding that favored the male children and encouraged them to stay behind and help in the farm.

When we break down the students who were attending school by urban and rural for East Shewa Zone, a clear difference appears. For instance, in Urban areas the school attendance was 40.1 percent at age five compared with 8.4 percent in the rural area. Similarly, school attendance in urban areas by age peaks at 73.2 percent by age 11 compared with 46.5 percent by age 14 in the rural Shewa zone.

To get a better sense of the situation in Debre Zeit, since there are no data for Debre Zeit we looked at the Adama Special Zone. Adama Special Zone being an urban town like Debre Zeit shares a lot of similarities. Based on the data from Adama Special Zone, the proportion of students that start attending school at five years old was 51.8 Percent compared with 40.1 percent in the urban East Shewa Zone and 8.4 percent in rural East Shewa Zone. After year five, students attending at Urban areas in East Shewa Zone catch up with Adama Special Zone.

Another interesting observation is the gender difference in school attendance. For example, except age five, female school attendance in East Shewa Zone is relatively higher for ages six to sixteen. One speculation is that the males are required for physically demanding looking after farm animals and farming. Higher proportion of female current school attendance is consistent both in the urban and rural area in East Shewa Zone.

The only anomaly is the relatively higher proportion of male students currently attending school between the ages of eight and ten in the Adama Special Zone. This is probably what we have witnessed when we attended school in Debre Zeit in the 1950s and 1960.

Although it was difficult to think about it at the time, one big positive and unique outcome of having a matured students in class was the role they played in disciplining the younger students. As most of the classes in those day were jam packed with students, it nearly impossible for teachers to keep discipling and teach.

Hence, most of the matured students were the class monitors and were feared as much as the teacher or even more. They exercised an iron feasted authority over the students. This enabled the teacher to focus on teaching and not to worry about disciplining students.

Their role was not only limited to class discipline. They protected venerable young students from bullies. The bullied students could go directly to the class monitors, usually the mature students, when they face treats. Often, they get protection from bullies, thanks to the mature students who serve as monitors in class and outside.

The matured students also served as role models to the younger students as they are disciplined and well behaved due to higher responsibility they had before they attended school. Name the class monitors who were matured students in your class in Debre Zeit in the 1950s and 1960s! (Example: Aseged Worknehe, Ademe Ayele, Wubaddesse Alemayehu, Brihanu Sahlu, Amare Sahlu, Assefa Reta, Telaye Abebe, Kebede, Gudeta Dessalegne, Kassahun Wake, Befkadu Seifu, Gizaw Geda)

For further detailed exploration, an expanded downloadable Excel table is provided below.

Oromia-Eastshew-Nazeret-Schoolattendance-age5-16-2007census